Modularized large-sized carrier

ABSTRACT

A modularized large-sized carrier includes at least two body modules, at least one hermetic seal component and a back board. The body modules are connected to each other peripherally and arranged in a depth direction. The hermetic seal component surrounds junctions of the body modules. The back board is disposed behind the last one of the body modules. The modularized large-sized carrier overcomes existing carrier size limitations otherwise caused by injection molding machines and continuously expands in the depth direction to thereby enlarge the airtight storage space of the carrier.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This non-provisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) on US provisional Patent Application No. 63/081,902 filed on Sep.22, 2020, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated byreference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present disclosure relates to carriers, and in particular to amodularized large-sized carrier.

2. Description of the Related Art

Existing commercially-available large-sized carriers, such as 12-inchwafer pods, are made by plastic injection molding. However, injectionmolding machines have size limitations and thus cannot inject integrallylarge-sized carriers of 500-800 mm. As a result, the size of thecarriers is limited by the manufacturing factor, and thus the capacityof the carriers cannot be further increased.

If the size of a carrier increases, the sum of the weight of the carrierand the weight of a load will become greater than 100 kg, and thesurface of the base of the carrier will deform and bend because ofinsufficient support and insufficient mechanical strength, therebybringing about the need to change. These factors also cause limitationsof the size of the large-sized carrier

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An objective of the present disclosure is to provide a modularizedlarge-sized carrier, comprising: at least two body modules connected toeach other peripherally and arranged in a depth direction; at least onehermetic seal component surrounding junctions of the body modules; and aback board disposed behind the last said body module.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the back board and the bodymodules are integrally connected.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the back board istransparent, translucent or opaque.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the body modules arefastened with screws or snap-engaged with each other.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, two outer sides of the bodymodules each have a delivery channel extending in the depth direction.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the delivery channel has apositioning notch portion.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, two outer sides of the bodymodules each have a perpendicular slot, and the perpendicular slotextends in a height direction perpendicular to the depth direction.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the modularized large-sizedcarrier further comprising: an outer bottom board having an outer sideand an inner side, the inner side facing bottom sides of the bodymodules; a plurality of reinforcement groove elements removably disposedon the outer side and each having a rail; and a plurality of reinforcedelements being slender, spaced apart by a specific distance and arrangedbetween the outer bottom board and bottom sides of the body modules,wherein bottoms and tops of the reinforced elements abut against theouter bottom board and bottom sides of the body modules, respectively.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the reinforced elements, theouter bottom board and bottom sides of the body modules form a H-shapedstructure.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the reinforcement grooveelements are made of metal.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the reinforced elements aremade of a metal or carbon fiber composite.

Therefore, a modularized large-sized carrier of the present disclosureovercomes carrier size limitations caused by conventional injectionmolding machines, expands continuously in the depth direction and thusenlarges an airtight storage space for a load, further reinforces thebase of the modularized large-sized carrier, dispenses with the hassleof changing the modularized large-sized carrier in whole, preventsbending and deformation otherwise resulting from a long time period ofweight bearing, reduces the time taken to change, reduces cost, andextends the service life of the modularized large-sized carrier.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a modularized large-sized carrieraccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view taken along line A-A ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a transverse cross-sectional view taken along line B-B of FIG.1.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the modularized large-sized carrieraccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the modularized large-sized carrier,showing the inner surface of its outer bottom board, according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the modularized large-sized carrier,showing the outer surface of its outer bottom board, according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the outer bottom board of themodularized large-sized carrier according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

To facilitate understanding of the object, characteristics and effectsof this present disclosure, embodiments together with the attacheddrawings for the detailed description of the present disclosure areprovided.

Referring to FIG. 1 through FIG. 3, in an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, a modularized large-sized carrier 100 comprises at least twobody modules 1, at least one hermetic seal component 2 and a back board3.

In this embodiment, at least two body modules 1 each comprise a firstbody module 11 and a second body module 12. The edges of first bodymodule 11 and the edges of second body module 12 are fixedly connectedto each other and arranged in a depth direction d. Their connection isachieved with screws or effectuated with their engaging portions throughsnap-engagement. In a variant embodiment, the modularized large-sizedcarrier 100 may have much more body modules 1, including a third bodymodule and a fourth body module, fitted together in the depth directiond, so as to form an airtight storage space of a large-sized carrier.

The hermetic seal components 2 surround junctions of the body modules 1(first body module 11 and second body module 12) to hermetically sealthe junction of the first body module 11 and second body module 12.Given the third body module and fourth body module, the hermetic sealcomponent 2 may also be disposed in the vicinity of the body modules 1.The hermetic seal component 2 is, for example, an airtight rubber strip,but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

The back board 3 is disposed behind the last one of the body modules 1.In this embodiment, the last one of the body modules 1 is the secondbody module 12, and thus the back board 3 is disposed at the second bodymodule 12. In this embodiment, the back board 3 and second body module12 are separate, and thus the hermetic seal component 2 is disposedbetween the back board 3 and the second body module 12 to hermeticallyseal the junction of the second body module 12 and the back board 3. Ina variant embodiment, the back board 3 is integrally formed behind thelast one of the body modules 1. Thus, the back board 3 and the last oneof the body modules 1 are integrally connected by injection molding. Forinstance, the second body module 12 and the back board 3 are the sameinjection element.

The modularized large-sized carrier 100 further has a front door (notshown) disposed in front of the first body module 11 (relative to theback board 3). The front door, body modules 1 and back board 3 areinjection-style plastic elements, but the present disclosure is notlimited thereto.

According to the present disclosure, since the body modules 1 and thehermetic seal component 2 are coupled together, the modularizedlarge-sized carrier 100 overcomes existing carrier size limitationsotherwise caused by injection molding machines and continuously expandsin the depth direction to thereby enlarge the airtight storage space ofthe carrier.

In this embodiment, the back board 3 is transparent, translucent oropaque. Referring to FIG. 1, the back board 3 has a light penetrablezone 31. The light penetrable zone 31 is transparent or translucent. Thetransparency depends on the electromagnetic wave used in detection.Thus, the light penetrable zone 31 is transparent to (penetrable by) ortranslucent to (semi-penetrable by) the electromagnetic wave, that is,is not restricted to visible light but includes infrared and UV. In avariant embodiment, the back board 3 is fully occupied by the lightpenetrable zone 31 made of a transparent or translucent material. Inanother variant embodiment, the back board 3 is made of an opaquematerial and has a hollowed-out zone in which the light penetrable zone31 made of a transparent or translucent material is formed. In a variantembodiment, the back board 3 is opaque, and both the back board 3 andsecond body module 12 are the same injection element.

In this embodiment, two outer sides of the body modules 1 each have adelivery channel 7 extending in depth direction d. FIG. 4 shows only thedelivery channel 7 on the side of the first body module 11 and secondbody module 12, but the first body module 11 and second body module 12are linear symmetrical. The other sides of the first body module 11 andsecond body module 12 also have the delivery channels 7 (not shown). Thedelivery channel 7 at least comprises two parallel ribs 71. The ribs 71each have a positioning notch portion 711. When a robotic arm (notshown) vertically delivers the modularized large-sized carrier 100, therobotic arm slides in a direction parallel to the delivery channel 7 soas to be engaged with and fixed to the positioning notch portion 711 toperform transportation. The ribs 71 of the delivery channel 7 bearweight.

In this embodiment, the two outer sides of the body modules 1 each havea perpendicular slot 8. The perpendicular slot 8 extends in a heightdirection h perpendicular to the depth direction d. The perpendicularslot 8 at least comprises two parallel ribs 81. When the modularizedlarge-sized carrier of the present disclosure rotates by 90 degrees, theribs 71 of the delivery channel 7 can no longer bear weight (itsextension direction is parallel to weight direction). At this point intime, the robotic arm grips the perpendicular slot 8 and uses the ribs81 of the perpendicular slot 8 as the bear weight surface afterrotation.

Referring to FIG. 5 through FIG. 7, in this embodiment, the modularizedlarge-sized carrier 100 further comprises an outer bottom board 4, aplurality of reinforcement groove elements 5 and a plurality ofreinforced elements 6.

The outer bottom board 4 has an outer side 41 and an inner side 42. Theouter side 41 is the outer surface of a machine to allow the modularizedlarge-sized carrier 100 to come into contact with the outside. Bycontrast, the inner side 42 faces bottom sides of the body modules 1.

Referring to FIG. 6, the reinforcement groove elements 5 are removablydisposed on the outer side 41 and each have a rail 51. The rail 51serves as a positioning sliding rail mechanism disposed between themodularized large-sized carrier 100 and any other machine or device. Thereinforcement groove elements 5 are changeable and are fixed to theouter side 41 of the outer bottom board 4 by means of fastening or snapengagement. In this embodiment, the reinforcement groove elements 5 arein the number of three, but the present disclosure is not limitedthereto.

Referring to FIG. 5 and FIG. 7, the reinforced elements 6 are slender,are spaced apart by a specific distance, and are arranged between theouter bottom board 4 and the bottom sides 111, 121 of the body modules1. The reinforced elements 6 are equidistant or not equidistant fromeach other and are preferably parallel to each other. The bottoms 61 andtops 62 of the reinforced elements 6 abut against (contact tightly) theouter bottom board 4 and the bottom sides 111, 121 of the body modules1, respectively, to form a H-shaped structure (H-beam). This structureis strongly resistant to bending and thus conducive to “instantdemounting, instant mounting,” reinforcement of the base of themodularized large-sized carrier 100, and prevention of bending anddeformation otherwise resulting from a long time period of weightbearing. The reinforcement groove elements 5 not only reduce wear andtear but can also be changed even in case of wear and tear, so as todispense with the hassle of changing the modularized large-sized carrier100 in whole, reduce the time taken to change, reduce cost, and extendthe service life of the modularized large-sized carrier 100.

In this embodiment, the reinforcement groove elements 5 are made ofmetal. However, the present disclosure is not limited thererto, as thereinforcement groove elements 5 may also be made of any other materialwhich is mechanically strong and resistant to wear and tear.

In this embodiment, the reinforced elements 6 are made of metal.However, the present disclosure is not limited thererto, as thereinforced elements 6 may also be made of any material which ismechanically strong and lightweight, such as a carbon fiber composite.

While the present disclosure has been described by means of specificembodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made theretoby those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spiritof the present disclosure set forth in the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A modularized large-sized carrier, comprising: atleast two body modules connected to each other peripherally and arrangedin a depth direction; at least one hermetic seal component surroundingjunctions of the body modules; and a back board disposed behind the lastsaid body module.
 2. The modularized large-sized carrier of claim 1,wherein the back board and each said body module are integrallyconnected.
 3. The modularized large-sized carrier of claim 2, whereinthe body modules are fastened with screws or snap-engaged with eachother.
 4. The modularized large-sized carrier of claim 1, wherein theback board is transparent, translucent or opaque.
 5. The modularizedlarge-sized carrier of claim 1, wherein the body modules are fastenedwith screws or snap-engaged with each other.
 6. The modularizedlarge-sized carrier of claim 1, wherein two outer sides of the bodymodules each have a delivery channel extending in the depth direction.7. The modularized large-sized carrier of claim 6, wherein the deliverychannel has a positioning notch portion.
 8. The modularized large-sizedcarrier of claim 6, wherein two outer sides of the body modules eachhave a perpendicular slot, and the perpendicular slot extends in aheight direction perpendicular to the depth direction.
 9. Themodularized large-sized carrier of claim 1, wherein two outer sides ofthe body modules each have a perpendicular slot, and the perpendicularslot extends in a height direction perpendicular to the depth direction.10. The modularized large-sized carrier of claim 1, further comprising:an outer bottom board having an outer side and an inner side, the innerside facing bottom sides of the body modules; a plurality ofreinforcement groove elements removably disposed on the outer side andeach having a rail; and a plurality of reinforced elements beingslender, spaced apart by a specific distance and arranged between theouter bottom board and bottom sides of the body modules, wherein bottomsand tops of the reinforced elements abut against the outer bottom boardand bottom sides of the body modules, respectively.
 11. The modularizedlarge-sized carrier of claim 10, wherein the reinforced elements, theouter bottom board and bottom sides of the body modules form a H-shapedstructure.
 12. The modularized large-sized carrier of claim 10, whereinthe reinforcement groove elements are made of metal.
 13. The modularizedlarge-sized carrier of claim 10, wherein the reinforced elements aremade of a metal or carbon fiber composite.